Past News and Announcements

Note: Items of interest to MVS Officials and Coaches can be found in the "Officials/Coaches" section.

Missouri Valley Senior Coach of the Year

A total of 16 coaches from within Missouri Valley have voted, and the 2012 Missouri Valley LSC Senior Coach of the Year resulted in a tie:

Gardner Howland – KCB – Senior Coach of the Year
Brian Timpe – NLU - Senior Coach of the Year

Congratulations to both Gardner and the Kansas City Blazers and Brian and Northland United Swim Team! Thank you to all coaches that voted.

Overland Park’s Vreeland Helps USA Relay Team Swim to Gold

In her Olympic debut, Shannon Vreeland, a Blue Valley West High School graduate and Kansas City Blazers alumni, swam the third leg in the final of the United States' gold-medal winning 4x200-meter free relay team on August 1st. Vreeland's team set an Olympic record in the race of 7 minutes, 42.92 seconds. Earlier in the day she swam the second leg in the preliminaries as the U.S. team won its heat. With the win, Vreeland became the first Kansas City-area native to win gold since sprinter Maurice Greene and wrestler Tara Nott did it in 2000.

Shannon Vreeland is a University of Georgia swimmer who swam for the Kansas City Blazers under coaches Pete Malone and Scott Bliss. The other members of the women's 2x400-meter Olympic Team were Missy Franklin, Dana Vollmer and Allison Schmitt.

Safe Sport Parent Education Now Available

USA Swimming is excited to announce that its Safe Sport Program has released a parent education course for its membership. The course is provided free of charge, it's online and takes about 15-20 minutes to complete. The course is available on the USA Swimming website under the heading of Free Training for Parents.

USAS Build-A-Pool Conferences

USA Swimming is holding regional Build-A-Pool Conferences and Save-A-Pool Workshops at various locations across the country. The Build-A-Pool Conference is to assist swim clubs and their partners to attain their goal of building a sustainable aquatic center that serves their community. The Save-A-Pool Workshop assists cities with pools that are struggling to stay open due to financial challenges. The goal is to provide information and sample plans to develop and implement aquatic programs supporting the operational budget. To view the dates and locations of these workshops, visit the USA Swimming website.

Missouri Valley Age Group Coach Of The Year

The coaches of Missouri Valley have voted, and this year's Missouri Valley LSC age group coach of the year is:

USA Swimming's Scholastic All-America Team

Each year, USA Swimming recognizes its members who excel both in the classroom and in the pool. The USA Swimming Scholastic All-America Team is made up of high school student-athletes who have a grade point average of 3.5 or higher and who have achieved the required time standard in an individual event. To be eligible for this recognition, swimmers must have completed 10th, 11th or 12th grade and must be a USA Swimming member athlete. Eligible times must have been be swum between July 1, 2010 and June 30, 2011. The Missouri Valley Swimming Athletes named to the USA Swimming Scholastic All-America Team for 2010-2011 are:

Hannah Angell	Kansas City Blazers
Ben Bravence	Kansas City Blazers
Chris Carpenter	Topeka Swim Association
Aaron Dennis	Missouri State Aquatics
Emily Dicus	Topeka Swim Association
Shawna Elsey	Unattached
Ty Fowler	Tsunami Swim Team
Marston Fries	Kansas City Blazers
Michael Glenn	Kansas City Blazers
Bryce Hinde	Kansas City Blazers
Matthew Margritier	Tsunami Swim Team
Mackenzie Neeley	Kansas City Blazers
Lucas Popp	Wichita Swim Club
Kate Snyder	Kansas City Blazers

MVS Zone Team

Congratulations to all of our 2011 MVS Zone Team members. We had a fantastic meet with numerous best times and fast finishes. Missouri Valley placed third in total team points and we had two high-point winners. Michael Andrew won the High Point competition for Boys 11 & 12 and Libby Walker won the High Point competition for Girls 13 & 14. Many thanks to our wonderful Zone Team coaching staff and helpful parents. A great deal of thanks also goes to the Topeka Swim Association and all of their volunteers. Way to go Missouri Valley! --Coach Laurie Reaburn

Deadline for Mandatory Background Checks

All non-athlete members who have not completed the USA Swimming background check must complete the new background check process by February 15, 2011. Completing a USA Swimming background check is an online process that starts at this link on the USA Swimming website: http://www.usaswimming.org/backgroundcheck. Once you are there, click on "Initiate a Background Check" and follow the prompts. You will be asked to acknowledge that you have read the "Notice Regarding Monthly Searches." You will also select between the Background Check for Coaches & Officials (Level 2) and the Background Check for Other Non-Athlete Members (Level 1). Once on the Acxiom website, you will provide information and payment with a credit card. Level 2 will be $39 and Level 1 will be $19. Be sure to print the "Confirmation Report" (next to last page ) and the "Thank You" page at the end for confirmation that you have initiated a check. If you encounter any problem with completing the check while online, please call Acxiom Customer Service at 800-853-3228 and choose option 2. If you have a question about your background screening requirement please call the MVS office at 785-841-0999.

USAS Launches New Background Check Program

USA Swimming will launch a new background check program on January 10, 2011. USA Swimming is pleased to announce that Acxiom Information Security Services, headquartered in Cleveland, OH, has been selected as the organization’s new background check provider. Acxiom, a pioneer in the industry, is one of the largest providers of background screening services in the USA. Led by nationally-recognized background screening expert Nadell Investigation Services, USA Swimming conducted an extensive selection process receiving proposals from 20 industry providers.

Based on new rules established at the US Aquatic Sports Convention last September, all non-athlete members are required to complete a USA Swimming background check (BGC). The new program will provide two levels of screening. Coaches and Officials are required to complete a Level 2 BGC, while all other non-athlete members must complete the Level 1 BGC.

The Level 2 Background Check will cost approximately $37-$40 while the Level 1 Check will cost between $17-$20. The initial check for both levels is valid for two years. Prior to the end of the 24th month following the initial check, all non-athlete members (regardless of membership type, eg. coach, official, other) will be required to complete a Renewal background check that will also cost $17-20. The Renewal check must be updated every two years to maintain a non-athlete membership in USA Swimming.

At the time the legislation was approved, the deadline for meeting the new requirement was December 31, 2010. With the selection of a provider taking longer than anticipated, the USA Swimming Board of Directors has created new implementation deadlines as outlined below.

Over the next few weeks, USA Swimming will be sharing additional details about the new program as well as directions for initiating the new background check. In the interim, if you have questions about the new background check program, please contact USA Swimming at backgroundcheck@usaswimming.org.

USA Swimming Expands Athlete Protection

USA Swimming and Missouri Valley Swimming have a long history of taking action on member safety. These efforts were expanded when the USAS House of Delegates approved the Athlete Protection Legislation at its 2010 Convention. More information on this important legislation and the athlete protection initiatives of USA Swimming is available on the USA Swimming website.

Dan McAllen, Chair of the USA Swimming Rules and Regulations Committee has also issued a Memorandum regarding these legislative changes.

This protection will impact several aspects of what we do. And we must remember that although much of this legislation may be perceived as adding a burden to our clubs and our members, nothing is more valuable than our athletes.

One of the key areas of this legislation was the expansion of the existing background checking program in two ways. First, all non-athlete members (volunteers, officials, etc.) must satisfactorily pass a criminal background check as a condition of membership. This represents between 30,000-40,000 additional background checks for all of USA Swimming. Coach members have been required to pass a background check since 2006.

Legislation was also passed at the convention to require employees and volunteers of USA Swimming, Local Swimming Committees and clubs who interact directly and frequently with athletes, to become members of USA Swimming, and therefore be subject to the background check requirement. This will also apply to club owners. The checks, which have been required every two years for coaches, will now be updated on a continual basis, to avoid any gap in information.

Additionally, the USA Swimming Board of Directors voted earlier this year to implement expanded background checking criteria. Along with the database check, coaches and officials will now be required to undergo a county court search (all counties of residence in the last 7 years) prior to becoming a member of USA Swimming.

With legislation passed on, all non-athlete members of USA Swimming will be required to complete an "Athlete Protection Education" requirement as a condition of membership. The education must be updated every three years. All members must be in compliance with this rule prior to registering for the 2011-2012 season

Guidance on the manner and timing in which these changes will be implemented has not yet been issued, but should be forthcoming soon. As soon as the information is available it will be posted on this website. Thank you in advance for your cooperation and assistance as USA Swimming steps forward with these initiatives to be an international leader in athlete protection policies and procedures to better insure the safety of our children and athletes.

Missouri Valley Zone Team Wins Central Zone Age Group Championships!

The Missouri Valley Zone Team won the Central Zone Age Group Pool Championship meet held on August 6-9 in Lincoln, NE, by outpacing nine other LSCs by a large margin. Our Zone Team achieved a combined score of 3,539 points with the next highest score of 3,003 by Indiana Swimming LSC. The Missouri Valley Zone Team also won the Open Water portion of the meet by outdistancing the other nine teams with a combined score of 307. The next highest team score of 183 was posted by Midwest Swimming LSC.

Congratulations to all swimmers and coaches who participated in these two great meets and achieved the highest Team Score for both meets!

Timeline for Championship Meet Information

To help ensure that accurate information for MVS championship meets is provided to member clubs in a timely manner, a distribution timeline has been established for clubs hosting championship meets. This timeline assigns specific deadlines and responsibilities that must be followed by each host club and the respective MVS officers. [View the Timeline]